


Dancing With A Queen

by orphan_account



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Dancing, F/M, First Signs of Love, Fluff, Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight kinda, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 06:57:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18823468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He was feeling more confident this time and decided that now was his chance. He was finally going to get to know her better, so what does he do? He asks her for a dance.





	Dancing With A Queen

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, Let's start fresh. I would first like to say a big thank you to shifty_cat and PixieRed, for their tips and criticisms on the original post. Your criticisms did not fall on deaf ears and I hope to show that with this version.
> 
> Furthermore, I would like to keep this section short so I'll just say this. While it is a re-upload of the original this new version is one that I am personally satisfied with and it is the final version. No more editing will be done unless it's a grammar or spelling mistake. Criticisms are still valid of course. 
> 
> And of course, since I'm still referencing Nooch's comic "Parallel" here's the link to that. It's super sweet and super short, so go check that out first if you haven't already.  
> https://twitter.com/noochjungart/status/1114603884389863425  
> With that, I leave you to enjoy the story.  
> 

It had been a quiet walk for the most part. However, there was this ominous tension in the air, one that the alleged phantom thieves before her could not shake. She looked at them, every single one of their faces wore an expression of worry and anger. She was positive the anger was directed towards her. As for the worried expressions, those were most likely them thinking of how to break free of their current situation she thought. Unable to bare her own guilt and the group’s silence any longer, Makoto began to apologize.

“I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to drag you in like this…”

“For real”  Ryuji whispered under his breath.

She felt horrible. Not only was she the one to put them on a Mafia boss’s radar, but she had now put their academic futures on the line as well. And this all happened because she charged in so recklessly into the lion’s den. It was fortunate enough that Makoto and the others were let go in the first place, not without a catch, there was _always_ one. They were blackmailed into bringing the mafia boss Kaneshiro three million yen in three short weeks, if they failed to do so Kaneshiro would send pictures of them at his bar to Shujin Academy. He even made sure to include drugs and alcohol as insurance. The realization of it all hit her like a truck full of bricks, Makoto couldn’t help but chastise herself for her recklessness.

“I was stupid…”

“I must agree. you should’ve easily imagined this happening.” Yusuke scolded her out of his own frustration on the matter.

“Alright enough of the blame game! What's done is done. No use in complain'n might as well focus on what we hafta do now.” Ryuji said as he looked for a way to ease the tension in the air.

Makoto had heard Ryuji, but she just couldn’t snap out of her downward spiral. She went on and on about how she was going to cause trouble for her older sister as well. Eventually, she had begun to say that she was also responsible for Kamoshida's crimes. She even gave herself the title of true scum in the process.

Meanwhile, Ren, the leader of the thieves, wanted to comfort her, but the words he sought remained stuck in his throat. Truthfully, all he wanted was to see her genuine smile again. The smile he sought was of that time Makoto had followed him around the school. She had a worried look on her face, however, she smiled at seeing him in the company of his two best friends.

 _'She seemed so dejected then, she was dealing with same baseless rumors that I’ve been subjected to. But then she just smiled? It was a good smile. I wonder if she was concerned about me then…?'_ he thought as the memories returned to him _._

Seeing that Ren nor Ryuji were able to help her,  Ann shook her head and tried to talk Makoto out of her breakdown.

“Real scum wouldn't acknowledge themselves as that"

“Takamaki-san…?” Makoto starred in surprise at the young blonde.

"I’m the same. It’s just like you said before: I was the closest to Shiho, and I didn’t do anything. Besides both Shiho and I know it was all Kamoshida’s fault.” Ann continued.

The words intended for Makoto were somehow having the same effect on Yusuke. Despite how harshly he had scolded her, he began to remember that he was in a similar situation not too long ago. At the thought, he had begun to sympathize with her.

“You didn’t have a place to belong to either...Isn’t that right?”

“Me either...?” Makoto was finally snapped out of her breakdown. “Why are you all okay with this…? With me?”

Despite how she wronged them, they were here comforting her instead. She was left bewildered as she pondered why they seemed to forgive her so easily. Even so, there was one member who had yet to say anything, it was Ren. She wondered what he thought of her now. Ren noticed immediately that she was staring at him. He realized that the longer he stayed silent, the more he hurt her. Still, he felt it impossible to speak up at the moment, despite what his earlier thoughts said. It wasn’t until he made eye contact with her bright red eyes that they told him something.

_'Please say something...anything I just need to know that I haven’t lost you yet, as a friend…'_

He was still unable to speak up, so instead, he sent a message of his own. He added a reassuring smile for good measure.

_'You haven’t lost me, I promise, my friend.'_

Truth be told he would rather have not thought of her as his friend since he had a crush on her. However, it was enough to see her be relieved, even if it was just for a couple of seconds. At least she understood and mouthed a soft thank you at that.

After all the apologies were said and done, Ryuji had accidentally let the existence of Kaneshiro’s palace slip. Both Ann and Yusuke were ready to scold him, however, an idea had popped into Morgana's head just then.

“That's it! Makoto isn’t useless at all, she’s our key in!” Morgana exclaimed trying to get the group’s attention.

“Our key in? What do you mean?” Ann questioned as she pointed a finger to the feline creature.

“Since she’s Kaneshiro’s special customer now, that means we are also his customers. That should grant us access now!”

“No! It’s far too dangerous to bring her along, she’s not even a Persona user!” Ren protested.

“Don't worry! The moment we have access to the palace we'll send her back to keep her safe. I promise!” Morgana said as he reassured Ren.

The group began to do the same as they all shared Morgana’s enthusiasm. Ren was still unconvinced to bring her along, however, she deserved to know now, especially after what she went through. So he turned to her only to see her give him and the others a confused look.

“Are you all okay? You're all talking to a cat…”

Instead of explaining it all to her, Ren thought it would be best to explain it to her with her own eyes.

“Will you come with us? It'll all make sense in a moment, I promise.”

He extended out his hand to Makoto. Surprisingly she took it with little hesitation. Until she realized she took it a little too fast. She thought she seemed very clingy in the process, which only caused her to become flustered instantaneously. The result was Ren and Makoto overanalyzing their situation, well more so for Makoto.

_‘Interesting, despite her serious and smart exterior she’s so easy to fluster.’_

_‘Why did I become so flustered?!’_

_‘Maybe she likes me as more than just an acquaintance?’_

_‘I only talk to him on occasion, and it’s not like I’ve spent so much time with him that it would be logical for me to be this flustered!’_

_‘No, that can't be it, I’ve barely spent time with her anyways, it has to be my imagination. Although, I wouldn’t be opposed to it…’_

_‘Still, his hand is so strong and he's kinda cute...NO Niijima! Focus! Besides, he probably likes Ann anyway, he’s always helping her out if he isn’t with Ryuji…’_

 

Three keywords later and the world around them began to distort…

 

Makoto who was still holding on to Ren's hand had opened her eyes, except she wasn't holding his hand. What she saw was a red colored glove and a masked person right in front of her. Feeling that she was in danger she began to maneuver against the masked person, kicking the back of his leg before placing him in an armlock. She looked up to realize that he wasn't alone. There were more masked people in front of her, each with their own horrified expressions at the scene. She had expected to use her Aikido skills to defend herself, but all she got was a yell telling her to stop.

“Makoto, relax! It's us!” Ann pleaded.

“Huh?! Ann is that you? Ryuji? Yusuke? And a monster cat?!” Makoto looked in wide-eyed astonishment.

Morgana was left in a disappointing shock “Ugh! I'm not a cat!”

“Wait if you are all in front of me then...OH GOD! Ren! I'm so sorry!” she looked at him worryingly.

“Makoto it's okay, just let me go this is starting to hurt more then I would like it to.” Makoto immediately let him go at his request.

After regaining his stance and composure Ren had gone on to explain what had happened, where they were, what to be called, and what their objective was. To everyone's surprise, Makoto caught on quickly, from the changes of one’s heart to the logic behind the metaverse. She really was smart, they all thought. Thanks to her quick understanding they were able to reach the palace and begin their infiltration. Once on the palace grounds, the group began to warn Makoto that this was as far as they could take her, due to her lack of experience within the metaverse.

“I can defend myself you know! I’ve trained in Aikido.” Makoto pouted.

“It's not that you can't defend yourself Makoto, it's that you lack what we call a persona." Morgana explained. "Without it, your Aikido won't do much against the shadows in there”

Ren had hoped Makoto would listen, but of course, she refused and wanted to proceed regardless. He sighed in defeat seeing that Morgana was unable to convince Makoto otherwise. However, Ren did admit to himself that her strong will was one of the many reasons he admired her. At the thought, Ren realized this would be his chance to get to strengthen his bond with Makoto, to become more than just an acquaintance. With no delay, he built up enough confidence and _smoothly_ offered to protect her.

“If you don't want to leave, I'll just have to protect you along the way, _Makotooo_.”

Realizing that he was rather awkward in his offer he immediately followed it up with “I-It isn't a hit on you or anything! I mean it, I just don't want you getting hurt after you helped us finally reach this place.”

_‘So much for being suave Ren...dammit! Keep it together she's just Makoto, the student council president!’ Ren thought to himself._

At the same time, another familiar voice teased him. **_‘Is that all she really is my dear gentleman thief?’_ ** It was Arsene.

_'N-no, I mean I know we just made up and all, but I...but she...Nevermind just forget it Arsene!'_

Arsene didn’t reply back instead he gave Ren a hearty laugh at the sight of his internal struggle. Ren was supposed to be their cool and collected leader, but instead, he was becoming a mess right in front of his companions. He also was supposed to be the one teasing her, but he failed at that too. Makoto meanwhile was trying to hide the blush to his awkward proposal.

“I-it's alright! I didn't take it like that or anything!”

After a while, Makoto regained her composure and assumed a hyped up fighting stance that conveyed that she was ready to enter the palace and put the incident behind her.

The group went inside the palace. They were met by the shadows that guarded Kaneshiro’s palace. Once alerted, the shadows rushed to attack them when a sudden voice commanded them to guide the thieves to the president's office instead. Once they reached said office, they were greeted by a trap, which had forced them to fight through what seemed like an endless hoard of shadows. Ren had fought especially hard because of his earlier promise to Makoto.

When they had managed to free themselves, they bolted straight for the entrance. Upon reaching the front doors, they were stopped by a disturbing voice. The voice belonged to Kaneshiro who was laughing at the state the thieves were in. Once ensured that they were trapped, Kaneshiro began to blabber on and on about how Makoto could have just sold herself to him to avoid the entire situation. Noticing that she stayed silent he decided to twist the knife even further with that creepy grin of his.

“You know your beautiful sister could always replace you. I could have her entertain me for a while. And when I get bored of her, I could just sell her off for loads of cash!”

Makoto looked back at him angrily “I've been listening to you go on and on...SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH YOU MONEY GRUBBING ASSHOLE!”

Suddenly, a voice began to call her **_‘Are you treading the path of strife?’_ **

“Yes, come to me!” Makoto commanded.

The voice went on **_‘Very well let us proceed with our contract at once…’_ **

At that Makoto's eyes began to glow yellow, she winced and screamed in pain as she felt a rush of energy surge throughout her body. She went on to smash the floor tiles, panting rapidly in the process. Then a mask appeared on her face. Wanting to be freed from the pain, she ripped it off instantly, resulting in a blue flame engulfing her. When she arose from the flame she was clad in a biker outfit with spikes and a lengthy black scarf. She was also mounted on what seemed like a motorcycle-shaped persona, she called it Johanna.

“A persona?” Yusuke looked on in bewilderment.

“No dude that's a bike!” Ryuji retorted him.

After everyone else had gotten over their surprise, Makoto proceeded to make quick work of the shadows. She shot at them with powerful nuclear energy, disintegrating them in a matter of seconds. She pummeled a few as well for good measure. Eventually, she went on to take command and rammed straight through the front doors earning them a clear path for their escape. They all fled and returned back to the real world, however just before that Ren couldn't help, but think to himself.

_‘Wow, she really is something, and very very pretty. I definitely have to get to know her better now.’_

**_‘Is that all thy see boy?! Just a pretty girl in a skin-tight suit?! I thought I taught thou better as a gentleman thief!’_ ** Arsene scolded him.

Ren quickly shot back at Arsene. _‘N-no! It's not just that! It's her resolve, and how smart she really is. Teasing her is kinda f-fun also, BUT most importantly she can finally be herself now.’_

Arsene didn't reply back, he simply nodded. Although Ren couldn't see it he felt it regardless.

 

* * *

 

They finally made it back to the real world, all of them were incredibly tired and wanted to only rest for the day. However, they still had to check on Makoto. They quickly looked to her and confirmed that she was still able to stand up on both legs. Satisfied, the group said their goodbyes and separated. Thus Ren and Makoto were left alone. While Makoto was happy about their reconciliation, she wasn’t in the mood for one of their usual small talks. All she wanted to do was get home and rest as well. Ren, on the other hand, wanted to spend a little more time with her so he offered to walk her home.

“No, thank you.” She replied. “I’d imagine that you’re just as tired if not more tired than me, especially since you had to protect me.”

Ren was about to dismiss his own tiredness as he opened his mouth to say something, however, Makoto quickly cut him off.

“Don’t take this the wrong way! It’s just that my sister is coming home tonight, and she would kill me if she saw me out with a boy this late at night. Thanks for offering though...”

Ren took the hint but was unwilling to give up, so he opted for text message instead. “It’s okay, I don’t mind, but could you at least text me when you get home? I would like to know that you at least made it home safe. N-not that you really have to, or anything, I just care about your safety.”

She really was tired, but she was also genuinely touched that he cared for her safety this much. Of course, he would do the same with all his friends, but it felt special somehow. It was why it had become harder and harder to stay true to the decline to his earlier offer. However, she noted that it was for the best, and accepted his text message request. After a little while, the two finally broke off and headed their separate ways for the night.

When Ren had arrived at Leblanc, he was greeted by a slightly irritated Sojiro.

“Ah there you are, I was beginning to think I was going to have to wait for you all night, but since it was a busy day, I had completely forgotten that I gave you a key.” Sojiro yawned tiredly. “So I felt like a buffoon for waiting all this time.”

“Well if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were worrying about me, Boss.” Ren flashed his smirk at him.

“Smartass, I oughta…” Sojiro was interrupted by Ren’s phone notification.

Ren checked it and saw that it was from Makoto, he couldn’t help but smile widely.

Sojiro noticed immediately “Is that a girl?”

Ren nodded in confirmation. “Say no more I’ll leave you to your business, but just remember to rest up kid. I don’t want you ruining your good streak now.” Satisfied with Ren’s dumbfounded look, he flipped the sign to closed and exited the cafe.

“So he really is a big softy deep down” Ren smiled in surprise.

Remembering about Makoto’s text, he proceeded to quickly run upstairs, jump into his bed, and quickly texted back.

 **_Makoto:_ ** _I made it home safely._

 **_Ren:_ ** _That’s good to hear, I was worried someone would approach you given your tired state._

 **_Makoto_ ** _: Thanks, but I can protect myself if someone tried something I would have punched them, I know Aikido after all._

 **_Ren:_ ** _Feisty I see, I like it._

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Not like that! You know what I mean…_

 **_Ren:_ ** _I know, I just wanted to tease you a bit, have a good night Makoto._

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Well you succeeded..._

**_*Makoto deleted a message*_ **

**_Ren:_ ** _What?_

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Nothing! Just have a good night Ren!_

 **_Ren:_ ** _Uhh Okay? Thanks._

“Stupid phone, why did you have to let him know I deleted _that_ message?” She sighed “I guess it doesn’t matter, after all, he didn’t see it, so that’s all that matters for now.” With that, she turned in for a night's rest.

 

* * *

 

The next day arrived and classes went by smoothly. Well at least for Makoto and Ren. Ryuji and Ann were struggling a bit but managing. Yusuke was at Kosei, so none them knew how he was doing. As classes let out, the thieves made their way to the hideout. They were ready to continue their infiltration, so upon arrival, they all booted up the meta nav and began their navigation. As they arrived at the palace Makoto had stopped everyone

“So what am I gonna be called? You were all using codenames before weren't you?”

Realizing what she was asking, the group began to think of suggestions for their newest member. Ryuji was the first to give a suggestion, but it was quickly shot down. Ann and Yusuke were the next to give suggestions, but Makoto didn’t like their ideas either. Afterward, Morgana had mentioned how she reminded him of an empress.

“How about Queen?” Ren suggested as he heard the feline.

“Queen...it has a nice ring to it” Makoto nodded in approval. “I like it. Let’s go with that!”

Morgana then took over, and recited each the thieves codenames, reminding them to only refer to themselves by the names. Once everyone nodded in confirmation, Queen decided that now was the best time to bring up strategy. Everyone looked at her in confusion, almost questioning her motives. That’s when it hit her...

“Wait…the Phantom Thieves were acting without plans?!” Queen gave a horrified questioning look to the group. “Especially you Joker! You are their leader, and you mean to tell me you didn’t give them directions?!”

“I did! During battles at least…” Joker shot back as he attempted to defend himself.

Before Queen could continue on with her assault of questions Mona had explained the process of how they operated. She still sighed in disappointment, however. “Okay...I guess I’ll be useful for sure.”

Queen’s strategies were proving to be extremely helpful to the group, not only were they progressing much faster, but their battles had gone on smoothly for the most part. They fought shadow after shadow with precise knowledge of what each one was weak to. It was only on occasion that Joker had to step in to save them all from a devastating attack. While Queen’s new guidance was good for knowing the weaknesses of an enemy, Joker’s guidance ultimately helped keep them alive. In order to ensure both outcomes, both Joker and Queen decided to work on effective ways of combat that would bring out these benefits simultaneously.

With that settled they decided that it was time for a break. Unfortunately, no safe room was present in the area so they decided to traverse deeper. They found it eventually, along with a room that had a surprising amount of space in the middle. Once inside the safe room, they were relieved that they could finally rest for a bit. Queen, however, decided to cut her break short for recon. Watching her leave Joker decided it was best to join her. Once outside they began searching around for shadows, treasure, and clues that could further their progress. To their surprise there weren’t any, it was just one big empty room. Just then, Joker had an idea go off in his head. He was feeling more confident this time and decided that now was his chance. He was finally going to get to know her better, so what does he do? He asks her for a dance.

“Hey, Queen.”

“Yes, Joker?” She turned around to meet him.

“Wanna dance?”

“A DANCE?! We’re in the middle of an operation!” Queen was blushing heavily at his request, she was thankful her mask could cover up most of it.

“Come on Queen, we’ve been navigating for at least two hours now, I’d say we earned it”

“I can’t just drop all of my responsibilities to indulge you in a dance! Besides, there's no music, so how would we dance?”

“Well, the music isn’t a problem. This place is based on cognition so if we just imagine it we’ll be able to hear whatever music the palace has.”

Queen sighed in defeat “Fine just this one dance, but if the music that plays is awful, I’m dropping the whole thing!”

Joker’s heart was making literal backflips at the notion that she had accepted, he promised to himself that he was going to make this special for her. After all, he was going to dance with a queen.

Queen noted how happy he looked. _It can’t be that bad...after all, it is HIM we are talking about here_

She blushed as she noticed what she was thinking, she was holding him to some strange higher standard than she did everyone else. Was she beginning to have a crush on him? Before she could continue her thoughts about the subject, Joker was already extending his hand out to her. Before long Joker’s imagination filled the palace with a groovy beat. He had expected something much slower along the lines of “Swear to my Bones.” What he got was “Price” instead. Not quite what he expected, but it was more fitting for their current setting.

Once Queen was able to hear the music as well she couldn’t help but feel giddy about the song. It reminded her a bit of the yakuza films she would watch in her spare time.

“Alright, so this is the song? It has a nice vibe going I think I can get into this!” Queen was excited...Until she remembered that she didn’t know how to dance.

“Is something wrong, Queen?”

“Y-yeah, you see I don’t really know how to dance Joker…”

“Ahahahaha! That’s funny!”

“It’s not funny! Can you even dance? I haven’t seen you make a move!”

“No, but remember what I said about the song being a cognition? Well, the same applies to our dancing, it’s just a matter of imagining that you can do it effectively.”

“That can’t be true it makes no sense logically!”

“Nothing in the metaverse makes too much sense when you think about it. Look just trust me, think of how you would want to dance and it’ll work.”

“Okay, you better not be wrong about this!”

Before Queen knew it, she was moving to the beat of the music. Not wanting to fall behind, Joker quickly got the sense of her rhythm and joined her.

They first started off at a distance stepping back and forth, swinging their arms side to side in the process. Then they circled around each other shuffling their feet around as the momentum of the music picked up. Slowly they were closing the distance between each other, getting closer and closer as they went until they were letting each other’s elbows graze one another as they danced. The song went on and the two weren’t ready to link up just yet, so they did their own individual dances instead.

Queen began by stepping forth with her right leg while pumping her arm along with it. Her movements were a bit stiff at first mainly due to her own nervousness, but as she went on she moved more fluidly. Later she crossed her arms and kicked her leg up as if she mounted a motorcycle. She stretched her arms out and began to pretend rev it while also pumping her entire body back and forth. She did this repeatedly eventually adding swaying motions as she drove around her pretend motorcycle

Joker, on the other hand, had been making moonwalk like moves letting his feet slip around, which allowed him to produce a very loose dancing style. He twirled around a few times and made small jumps in between, followed by circular motions with his arms which allowed him to criss-cross his legs and shuffle around as he went on.

Eventually, the pair intertwined and gave each other twirls. A couple of more spins and jumps later, and they were on absolute fire! With how good they were moving Joker was beginning to think they had achieved something along the lines of a “KING CRAZY” score from a new rhythm game he purchased a few months back. Remembering that he was still dancing though, he decided that now was the time to try a new dance move. He momentarily let go of Queen as he spun her around fiercely, only to slide past her to catch her.

Queen was excited by his boldness, so she attempted to follow suit by placing her feet in a pencil-like stance, and slid under him practically doing the splits as she did so. Joker turned around slightly confused.

“Uh, Queen what was that?”

“What? Are you telling me that you are the only one who can pull off new moves?” She looked at him smugly.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant...It’s just that...nevermind, two can play that game!”

He grabbed her by the hand and put his free one around her waist bringing her closer than before in the process. Queen felt a blush coming in, but she did her best to withstand it. Joker was satisfied with her reaction and continued to move her around the room quickly. After a while, they were laughing and smiling at how silly they looked, but they were enjoying every single second of it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the thieves had begun to question what was taking them so long. They were only searching the area, so what gives they all thought. That was when Panther heard the outside music.

“Hey Skull, do hear that? It sounds like music?” she asked.

“Now that you mention it yeah I do. Hey Fox, Mona, you hear that as well?” Skull questioned the others.

The other two listened for the noise and nodded in agreement. Curious they decided to head out and see what was the cause of it.

They were surprised at what they had discovered, both Queen and Joker were dancing in the middle of the room to the beat of the song that seemed to encompass the whole palace and they were killing it! Joker and Queen were far too distracted to notice them, so they continued on preparing for the finale. Joker had picked up Queen by her waist and spun her around once as he set her to be laid down about halfway before reaching the ground. He then placed one arm around her back and the other was picking up one leg, while her other leg remained on the ground for balance. She, in turn, wrapped both arms around his neck. As the song ended they stared at each other intently in that same pose, about to be lost in each other’s gaze. Until a certain Panther had interrupted them with loud cheers.

Queen immediately pushed Joker back and was quick to stand upright. Despite her best efforts, her face betrayed her as it was already stained red.  She was immediately about to tell Panther that she and the others saw nothing. However, Panther stopped her.

“Relax, haha, you two were amazing where did you even learn how to dance like that?!”

“Yeah man tell us! That was effin' incredible!” Skull barged in excitedly.

“I must agree it was rather artistic, a beautiful display of the dance art form.” Fox said as he was trying to recapture Queen and Joker’s final pose.

Joker had explained that they didn’t actually know how to dance and that it was purely based on cognition. The group seemed even more excited at the prospect and wanted to try it out themselves. Unfortunately, it was already very late, and they had to get back to the real world. They did so, albeit slightly disappointed.

When they made it back in the real world, the others made Ren and Makoto promise that they would at least try one big group dance on their next infiltration, they did so with heavy reluctance. With that settled the group disbanded one by one until only Makoto and Ren were left. Ren looked at Makoto who was looking down shyly.

Curious he spoke up. “Hey, I’m sorry for embarrassing you in front of them like that, Makoto."

"N-no, Ren it's fine really..."

"Still, I didn’t think that they would be able to hear the music through the safe room's weaker cognition."

"Yeah, that was definitely a surprise..."

"Makoto, is something wrong?"

Makoto had hoped he would leave it be. But seeing his concerned look, she mustered up the courage to speak.

“Ren, when we finished our dance and we were in that pose w-were you going to, you know k-kiss me?”

“I was going to what?” Ren asked unable to understand her muttered question.

Makoto shook her head trying to fade away the blush that was creeping up on her face and clarified.

“What I meant to say was do you mind d-dancing with me again sometime? In the real world, this time I-I mean. I could use it for experience on broadening my horizons, something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.”

“Sure! I don’t mind. After all, I’m new to this as well, so I’m sure it’ll be fun!” He agreed. “Anyway, since it’s late, want me to walk you home?”

“Yes, I would appreciate it very much.”

“So, now you’re okay with it, I wonder what changed?” Ren smirked at her deviously.

“Wha?! What are you implying? I could just walk myself you know!” Makoto said with a flushed expression

“I’m kidding, I was only having a little bit of fun.”

“Gods, you really are something you know that.” she said embarrassed.

Meanwhile, Arsene was chuckling at the sight of Ren interacting with his new confidant.  ** _If only thou knew what was in store for each of thee, my dear gentleman thief and illusory popess…_**

 _What was that Arsene?_ Ren asked through his thoughts.

**_Thou shall see my gentleman thief, thou shall see…_ **

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it. When I first posted this I thought, I thought I had it down right the first time and well as you can see I was wrong. I think one of the issues had to do with me not really knowing how to tell a story since my only real knowledge of writing is essays. And as you know stories aren't really told in essays.
> 
> Additionally, the mistakes it had kept bugging me. I was always editing it and changing once it was posted, and every single time I did, one new person had already read through the previous "revised" version. At that point, I was stressing out because I was like "What's the point of changing it? People already read it, it's not like they will read it again." By no means am I seeking pity, but if I must admit that was what ultimately led to me deleting the original. So I did, and I also learned that writing is supposed to be fun, not stressful, so I let this new version cook longer and spent multiple nights working on it, until I was 100% satisfied and saw it as a worthwhile piece.
> 
> I do have to say though, this piece took a lot out of me. So from now on, I'll be focusing on much smaller pieces, maybe somewhere around 1k to 2k words, at least until I feel comfortable with enough experimentation. The only reason this one stayed at 5k was that I felt I just couldn't shorten it without everything seeming out of context. With all that being said, I hope you have a good day/night. See ya.


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